The Barn was the Barn again

[Tater]

I think the new seating arrangement will actually help a lot in a few years. Most of the good seats are maintained by old timers. Now, I appreciate their devotion to Gopher Hoops and their longevity needs to be commended, but some of them are milking relatives tickets. The shake up will allow some real fans in, despite the donation requirements. Now, it won't solve the problem completely as the donation will shy away some good fans, but it cannot get worse.

+1 My dad has had tickets since the '60s and I went to the game with him last night and sat with him in his two seats. When I was a kid during the Clem days, I could scream, clap, and whistle all game (and stand up whenever I wanted) and I couldn't even hear myself. Now, doing the same thing last night, I had a few people looking at me like I was a nut job and the old fart behind me actually told me to sit down at one point. Brutal.

Great student section and great game though.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Fair points, TJ. There is a reason I chose the word "fine" instead of rocking. I thought the crowd was much better last night (for the record, during the course of a game I'm not looking around to see who's cheering or who's not -- apparently a fascination of the students -- I'm there to watch the game, not the crowd), but certainly not all that William Arena can be. I think the crowd last night is something we can build on.

 

[howeda7]

+1 My dad has had tickets since the '60s and I went to the game with him last night and sat with him in his two seats. When I was a kid during the Clem days, I could scream, clap, and whistle all game (and stand up whenever I wanted) and I couldn't even hear myself. Now, doing the same thing last night, I had a few people looking at me like I was a nut job and the old fart behind me actually told me to sit down at one point. Brutal.

Great student section and great game though.

I believe the Gopher BB crowd is starting to go through what the football crowd went through 15-20 years ago. It's simply starting to get old and there aren't enough new people following in behind. Reusee always references the new wave of fans that came in with Musselman. If those people were 30 then, they're 65 now and it shows.

But the issue is not really those folks. You're not going to scream your head off at 65 the same way you did that 30. That's life. The issue is the U is not keeping enough of the students around as season-ticket holders when they graduate.

They need to make sure the student section is always full. Expose as many students to it as possible. If you need to make the tickets free, do it. It's a long-term investment. Second, they need to have a section for recent grads with reduced prices. Most people can't afford to drop several hundred dollars on college basketball season tickets when they're right out of colllege. So they stop coming to the games and they may never come back. Other schools do both of these things. Another expample of myopia in the Athletic Department, IMO. It would cause some issues with the current precious budget, and therefore is a no go.

 

[sec105]

Sadly, the re-seating thing they are planning is going to make this worse, not better, correct?

When I first got my tickets in the early 70's right after graduating from the U, we knew all the people around us and it was like a little community in our section. We all knew who the best hecklers in our section were and reveled in their humor. We all knew who liked which players and who hated which teams and or coaches (Jud Heathcote) and everyone joined in the fun. Nobody stood for the whole game. That wasn't the rage then. But everybody stood when the barn was going crazy. The students were in the ends in the upper decks. Those were the days of Mussleman, Dutcher and early Haskins.

When they remodeled in the early 90's they put the students downstairs and they implemented premium seating charges things changed. It was still exciting but not quite the same. Maybe 4,000 fewer fans was part of it but I contend it was then that corporate America got involved. They saw how much fun Williams was and wanted in. They bought the expensive seats. And the rest of us were pushed to the ends. The teams were still exciting under Haskins and Williams Arena was still great but it really wasn't the same.

When Monson came in the excitement died. People were dropping their season tickets en masse all except the Corporations who just kept renewing. As ticket sales were tumbling a renewed effort by the U of M Marketing department wanted the corporations to increase their number of tickets.

Now I go to the games and I usually have to introduce myself to the folks sitting next to me. They are corporate seats most often given to people who have only a casual interest at best in Gopher basketball.

I was seriously asked by the person sitting next to me at the Michigan game last year..."which ones are the Gophers?" I swear to God the guy asked me that and he really didn't know. He received the 4 tickets from the purchasing agent where he worked who got them for a vendor.

Sadly, the re-seating thing they are planning is going to make this worse, not better, correct?

Correct.

 

[Rosemountian]

I third or fourth the overwhelming opinion in this thread... the student section rocked... the rest of the crowd stunk... oldest crowd in town by a wide margin, in fact a handful of people in our section (116) left at a whistle w/ 2:08 remaining... no joke.

If the lead was 10 instead of 3… I'm gonna say 40% of the crowd would left at that whistle.


BEAT THE TRAFFIC! clap-clap-clapclapclap

 

[From the Barn]

Folks need to keep in mind that this was our first top ten win in a decade. I'd argue the loudness correlates with fan confidence. If you didn't have visions of Keaton Grant and Kalin Lucas knocking down a 3 in the final seconds, you haven't been paying attention. It is hard to cheer and cringe simultaneously. If the Gophers keep playing well, the crowd will get louder and louder. As has been brought multiple times here, there just hasn't been all that much to cheer about at the The Barn lately.